Phila. Mormon temple to offer tours this summer
The public will be able to see the inside of the first Mormon temple built in the city - and in the entire state - when it opens in Philadelphia this summer.
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-pmn.s3.amazonaws.com/public/EZYFNCUC45DRHPXYSPEBAECYJY.jpg)
The public will be able to see the inside of the first Mormon temple built in the city - and in the entire state - when it opens in Philadelphia this summer.
A four-week open house, with free tours, will begin Aug. 5 and last until Sept. 3, but will exclude Sundays, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a news release this week.
The massive, neoclassical, granite-exterior temple, with two soaring spires, is nearing completion on the 1700 block of Vine Street in Franklintown - about a block north of Logan Square, the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
The 53,000-square-foot structure, officially the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple, will be formally dedicated Sept. 18, a Sunday.
It will serve approximately 45,000 church members from parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware. The closest current temples for local Latter-day Saints are in New York and Washington.
In addition to the temple, a meetinghouse is being built at the site, as is a 32-story residential tower. The meetinghouse will include a family history center.
The meetinghouse will be open to the public, including for Sunday worship services.
The temple, designed for the performance of sacred ordinances, will be open for the dedication and afterward to church members in good standing.
On Dec. 30, the temple marked a significant milestone when a gold-leaf statue of the Angel Moroni, a Book of Mormon prophet, with trumpet in hand, was placed on top of the temple's taller spire.
More details can be found at www.philadelphiamormontemple.org, where reservations can be made for the open-house tours closer to August.
215-854-2592 @julieshawphilly